Given all that you might think I'd be predisposed to side with the SEIU in its fight with Unicco, which employs the UM janitors, and against President Donna Shalala, whose institution contracts with Unicco. In fact, my sympathies are mainly with Shalala, who acted honorably in this dispute, and my enmity is with the SEIU, which showed itself to be manipulative, deceitful and dishonest. Unicco, the third party in the dispute, will never win Most Humane Employer, but the company early on made a good-faith offer to end the strike by holding a quick, fair election and not contesting the results. University of Miami President and former Clinton Cabinet member Donna Shalala served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Iran in the 1960's.

The janitors' strike at the University of Miami is over, but the questions linger on. Mainly about ends and means and how one side acted as if the former justifies the latter.

I bring a unique perspective and personal history to this story. You see, I was a janitor at a university as a college student and belonged to the union that represented them.

The union was the Teamsters, and the school was the University of California at Berkeley. It was a long time ago, but I remember very well the hard work and sweat involved in stripping caked wax off hallway and classroom floors and the noxious cleaning agents I used on six big, smelly bathrooms every night. But the job paid well, and I was glad to have it. Also glad to belong to a union local that made sure its members were paid a decent wage, got benefits and had a proper grievance procedure when supervisors demanded something unreasonable.

Shalala acted honorably

Given all that you might think I'd be predisposed to side with the SEIU in its fight with Unicco, which employs the UM janitors, and against President Donna Shalala, whose institution contracts with Unicco. In fact, my sympathies are mainly with Shalala, who acted honorably in this dispute, and my enmity is with the SEIU, which showed itself to be manipulative, deceitful and dishonest. Unicco, the third party in the dispute, will never win Most Humane Employer, but the company early on made a good-faith offer to end the strike by holding a quick, fair election and not contesting the results.

Not acceptable to the SEIU, which insisted on a card check where the janitors would say Yes or No to a union in an open process. To get a card check, the union cynically exploited the genuine desire of some UM janitors to unionize, even to the point of encouraging a dozen of them to go on a hunger strike. That's a life-and-death tactic generally reserved to protest a great moral outrage that offers no other solution. But a hunger strike over whether to hold a secret election or a card check? It's not only irresponsible but morally indefensible.

Janitors' health at risk

SEIU President Andy Stern and his subordinates were clearly willing to stop at nothing to get their foot in the door at UM, including putting some janitors' health, and possibly lives, at risk. The union was also willing to spend a lot of money -- about $20,000 per striker, according to one knowledgeable source who puts the total SEIU investment thus far at $1 million.

The SEIU field organizers -- Shalala calls them ''event planners'' -- kept the strikers pumped up and produced the daily ''news'' events that attracted widespread media attention. Teamsters International President James P. Hoffa came to express his solidarity with the UM janitors and the SEIU, but he was really there to advance his new coalition of breakaway unions just as John Edwards was there to advance his presidential ambitions.

Card check vs. election

The SEIU was glad to have them because they repeated the union's mantra of ''justice'' and ''respect'' for the janitors when the real issue, since they had already gotten higher wages and health benefits, was simply how they would choose or reject the union -- by a card check or election. Much of the media, however, bought the justice/respect motif. By the time the university fought back, the PR battle was pretty much over. He who frames the debate usually wins.

The SEIU picked UM to set a precedent for a nationwide campaign to organize university janitors. Only yesterday it won a long-running battle at Georgetown University where the janitorial service provider agreed to a card check. The SEIU insists on card checks for all janitors even though it lets healthcare workers at hospitals and nursing homes hold secret elections. Stern says it makes better sense for janitors to use the card check method, but his argument implicitly says janitors aren't smart enough to vote.

Now the UM janitors will fill out ''pledge cards'' in a process supervised by a disinterested third party, which is probably in everyone's best interest. The university appears to have blinked, and you can't really blame Shalala. A major disruption at the school's graduation ceremony May 12 could have been disastrous.

The villain

''The University of Miami shouldn't be in the business of telling Unicco how to deal with its employees when it comes to a union,'' Shalala told me before Monday's settlement was reached. ''We're not against a union. We are for a secret election. Who can be against something that's democratic?'' Who indeed?

But the SEIU was against it because it figured it would lose an election. Stern picked UM as a test case because Shalala is a national figure well known for her liberal, labor-friendly politics. They tried to demonize her, but failed.

Shalala's argument that the university was ''neutral'' may have been a fiction, but she did right by the janitors, putting their pay and benefits at a par with similar workers here. If there's a villain in this story it's union leaders who were willing to exploit a group of hard-working, unsophisticated immigrant workers to achieve their own larger ambitions.

But it seems to have worked.

When this story was posted in July 2006, this was on the front page of PCOL:

Jody Olsen is acting Peace Corps DirectorThe Senate confirmed Gaddi Vasquez to head the FAO on June 30. Jody Olsen will be acting Director until the President makes a permanent appointment. Olsen has been Deputy Director of the Peace Corps since 2002. She has previously served as Chief of Staff for two directors, as regional director for North Africa, Near East, and Asia and the Pacific, and as country director in Togo. She served in Tunisia as a PCV.

Changing the Face of HungerIn his new book, Former Congressman Tony Hall (RPCV Thailand) says humanitarian aid is the most potent weapon the United States can deploy against terrorism. An evangelical Christian, he is a big believer in faith-based organizations in the fight against hunger. Members of Congress have recently recommended that Hall be appointed special envoy to Sudan to focus on ending the genocide in Darfur.

PC will not return to East Timor in 2006Volunteers serving in East Timor have safely left the country as a result of the recent civil unrest and government instability. Latest: The Peace Corps has informed us that at this time, the Peace Corps has no plans to re-enter the country in 2006. The Peace Corps recently sent a letter offering eligible volunteers the opportunity to reinstate their service in another country.

Chris Dodd considers run for the White HouseSenator Chris Dodd plans to spend the next six to eight months raising money and reaching out to Democrats around the country to gauge his viability as a candidate. Just how far Dodd can go depends largely on his ability to reach Democrats looking for an alternative to Hillary Clinton. PCOL Comment: Dodd served as a Volunteer in the Dominican Republic and has been one of the strongest supporters of the Peace Corps in Congress.

Vasquez testifies before Senate CommitteeDirector Vasquez testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on his nomination as the new Representative to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture replacing Tony Hall. He has been the third longest serving Peace Corps Director after Loret Ruppe Miller and Sargent Shriver. PCOL Comment: Read our thanks to Director Vasquez for his service to the Peace Corps.

Interview with a Hit ManRPCV John Perkins says that for many years he was an "economic hit man" in the world of international finance whose primary job was to convince less developed countries to accept multibillion dollar loans for infrastructure projects that left the recipient countries wallowing in debt and highly vulnerable to outside political and commercial interests. In this exclusive interview for "Peace Corps Online," Colombia RPCV Joanne Roll, author of Remember with Honor, talks to Perkins about his Peace Corps service, his relation with the NSA, "colonization" in Ecuador, the consequences of his work, why he decided to speak out, and what his hopes are for change.

Peace Corps stonewalls on FOIA requestThe Ashland Daily Tidings reports that Peace Corps has blocked their request for information on the Volkart case. "After the Tidings requested information pertaining to why Volkart was denied the position — on March 2 — the newspaper received a letter from the Peace Corps FOIA officer stating the requested information was protected under an exemption of the act." The Dayton Daily News had similar problems with FOIA requests for their award winning series on Volunteer Safety and Security.

PCOL readership increases 100%Monthly readership on "Peace Corps Online" has increased in the past twelve months to 350,000 visitors - over eleven thousand every day - a 100% increase since this time last year. Thanks again, RPCVs and Friends of the Peace Corps, for making PCOL your source of information for the Peace Corps community. And thanks for supporting the Peace Corps Library and History of the Peace Corps. Stay tuned, the best is yet to come.

History of the Peace CorpsPCOL is proud to announce that Phase One of the "History of the Peace Corps" is now available online. This installment includes over 5,000 pages of primary source documents from the archives of the Peace Corps including every issue of "Peace Corps News," "Peace Corps Times," "Peace Corps Volunteer," "Action Update," and every annual report of the Peace Corps to Congress since 1961. "Ask Not" is an ongoing project. Read how you can help.

RPCV admits to abuse while in Peace CorpsTimothy Ronald Obert has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a minor in Costa Rica while serving there as a Peace Corps volunteer. "The Peace Corps has a zero tolerance policy for misconduct that violates the law or standards of conduct established by the Peace Corps," said Peace Corps Director Gaddi H. Vasquez. Could inadequate screening have been partly to blame? Mr. Obert's resume, which he had submitted to the Peace Corps in support of his application to become a Peace Corps Volunteer, showed that he had repeatedly sought and obtained positions working with underprivileged children. Read what RPCVs have to say about this case.

Why blurring the lines puts PCVs in dangerWhen the National Call to Service legislation was amended to include Peace Corps in December of 2002, this country had not yet invaded Iraq and was not in prolonged military engagement in the Middle East, as it is now. Read the story of how one volunteer spent three years in captivity from 1976 to 1980 as the hostage of a insurrection group in Colombia in Joanne Marie Roll's op-ed on why this legislation may put soldier/PCVs in the same kind of danger. Latest: Read the ongoing dialog on the subject.

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Story Source: Centre Daily Times

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Figures; COS - Iran; University Administration

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